Chapter Text
Robin has done this before. There’s no reason she should be this nervous tonight. She’d snuck into Nancy Wheeler’s window plenty of times and each one had been mostly fine (aside from the time she almost slipped off the roof while Steve watched from his car, he didn’t let that go for a week). But things already had been off to a not-so-great start tonight.
First, Steve refused to give her a ride, something about a movie date and getting to third base tonight. Which, good for Steve and whatever poor girl he’s been seeing, but not so good for Robin, because she’d already promised Nancy she’d come over tonight, so now she’d either have to cancel (which she really didn’t want to do) or bike over.
So Robin biked over. But then it started raining along the way. So now here she is, staring down the side of the house she needs to scale, soaking wet.
Robin tucks her bike in the bushes and puts her foot on the spot she always started on, beginning her ascent to Nancy Wheeler’s window.
“What are you doing?”
Startled, Robin falls down, landing flat on her back on the wet, muddy, ground. She’d definitely be borrowing Nancy’s clothes tonight. She looks up to find Nancy’s brother, Mike, standing over her, confused.
Robin stares up at him. “Oh, hey little Wheeler.”
He’s not really ‘little’ anymore, in the time Robin’s known him, he never really had been, especially compared to Nancy, but he’s taller than Robin now too, having had one hell of a growth spurt a year ago and shooting up to probably around six foot.
Mike rolls his eyes and scoffs. Robin then notices he’s in a rain jacket and holding his bike. Looks like he’s sneaking somewhere too. “Do you need help up or something?” he asks, once again staring at her.
“Nope,” Robin replies, scrambling up. “All good. So, where are you off to?”
“None of your business,” he snaps. “What are you doing at my house?”
“Oh, uh, I’m—having a sleepover with Nancy!” It’s not a full lie. Just not the full truth. As far as Robin is aware, Mike doesn’t even know Nancy likes girls, let alone that she and Robin are together. Considering the weird friendship between Mike and Will that bordered on…something else, and the fact that Mike continually defends Will when people shout slurs at him, Robin doesn’t really think he’d be homophobic, but one - it’s not her place to tell him about Nancy and two - you can never be too careful in a town like Hawkins, if the wrong person finds out, then you end up the town pariah. Hell, considering Nancy’s a legal adult now, she could find herself kicked out by her parents permanently and there’d be nothing anyone could do about it.
Mike raises an eyebrow. “Then why aren’t you using the door?”
“Let’s talk about what you’re doing sneaking out at—” Robin wipes the mud off her watch and checks it. “—ten-thirty PM on a school night.”
She might still be on summer break for her college courses, but school had started for the high schoolers about a week ago, so Mike definitely has school tomorrow.
“How do you know I’m sneaking out?” he challenges.
“Well, considering you’re fully clothed and wearing a rain jacket, while holding your bike, one could only assume—”
“Fine, I’m sneaking out, okay?” Mike huffs. “Now will you tell me what you’re actually doing here?”
Robin dodges the question. “Why are you sneaking out? It’s pouring.”
“Why are you sneaking in?” Mike pushes, dodging her question.
“Nancy called and asked me to come over, alright? I’m not telling you why because I promised I wouldn’t tell, but—”
“Wait, have you been the one sneaking in at least once a week for the past month?” Mike blurts.
Robin’s eyes widen, and before she knows it “how’d you know about that?” comes out of her mouth.
Great, now she just revealed this wasn’t just a one-off thing and she was most definitely trying to sneak in. Curse her mouth moving faster than her brain.
“Every time I sneak out to go see Will I—shit.”
Robin grins. Knew it. “Oh, so that’s why you were sneaking out?”
“No,” Mike squeaks, growing increasingly red in the face. He sighs. “Okay, yes, but you don’t get it! He’s been having a hard time lately. I know Vecna’s gone now, but he still has nightmares about everything. So sometimes I just go over and sleep with him and it helps. It helps him sleep through the night anyway.”
“That’s actually really sweet of you, and Steve says you're the mean one.”
Mike rolls his eyes. “Steve doesn’t know shit.”
“Well, I should let you get going then. Don’t want to keep Baby Byers waiting.”
Mike groans. “Do you have those nicknames for all of us?”
“Just you and Will, since the other four don’t have older siblings I know.”
“They don’t have older siblings at all.”
“Exactly.”
Mike sighs and shakes his head. “So, will you tell me what you’re doing here? Are you and Nancy dating now or something? Or do you just come over as moral support? Because I’m about ninety-percent sure last week I heard—"
“I will not confirm or deny your suspicions, but I really shouldn’t keep Nance waiting much longer. Let’s never talk about this again.”
“Fine by me.”
Neither of them move, both just staring at each other.
“The backdoor is unlocked, my mom and dad are both asleep, you can sneak through there so you don’t slip off the roof, just don’t track mud through the house or you’ll expose both of us,” Mike informs quietly, climbing onto his bike.
“Oh thank god,” Robin sighs with relief. “Climbing through a window is romantic and all, but I really don’t want to fall on my ass again. Thank you for that tip, little Wheeler, I will do my best to not track mud in.”
Mike rolls his eyes once again. “Hope my sister doesn’t break up with you, because if she’s not getting back with Jonathan, you’re better than her being back with Steve,” he says, then bikes off before Robin can get a word out.
Well that could have gone worse , Robin thinks.
She quietly slips towards the back of the house and down the hill to the door Mike said was unlocked to see if it actually was. She doubts he’s lying to her, but it’s always a possibility. But sure enough, it’s unlocked.
She quietly takes off her shoes to cover her tracks so no one would see her muddy footprints, then silently slips inside the Wheeler house.
No one stirs as she makes her way out of the basement and upstairs to Nancy’s room.
Robin quietly knocks on Nancy’s door, hoping that no one else hears her.
It doesn’t seem like they do, considering there’s no shouting or doors slamming. But Nancy heard, proven by her door opening.
“I almost thought you weren’t coming,” Nancy whispers, grabbing Robin’s hand and dragging her inside. She looks her up and down. “You look like shit.”
“Yeah, Steve’s busy tonight, so I had to bike, then it started raining, then when I was climbing up your brother yelled at me, and I slipped and fell into the mud.”
“I saw you two talking out there,” Nancy comments as she pulls out a sweatshirt and pair of shorts from her dresser, then passes them to Robin. The shorts are a little small, but they’d work, at least Robin wouldn’t be in wet, muddy clothes. The sweatshirt fits pretty well though, it had been probably big on Nancy. “Thought he might’ve scared you off.”
“Nope,” she laughs, quickly changing and placing her muddy clothes somewhere they wouldn’t make a mess.. “It’d take a lot more than one angsty seventeen year old to scare me away.”
“He’s been sneaking off like this pretty regularly,” Nancy sighs. “I’ve been trying to ask him about it, but he dodges the conversion every time. I just hope he’s not out doing anything stupid. I don’t want to be an aunt before I graduate college.”
“I assure you that will not be happening,” Robin reassures. “And the only trouble he’ll be getting in is if Hopper finds out he’s been sneaking into his house regularly, although I think Joyce has a soft-spot for him, so he probably won’t get into too much trouble.”
Nancy’s brow furrows, trying to understand what Robin is getting at, then her eyes widen in realization. “That makes so much sense,” she mutters. “It’s Will isn’t it? He’s been sneaking out to go see Will.”
“I will neither confirm or deny that.”
Nancy sighs, and pulls Robin onto her bed. She leans her head on Robin’s shoulder. “I’m going to try talking to him again tomorrow. He’s going to get caught sooner or later.”
“Maybe you should lead with the fact that we’re dating,” Robin suggests.
Nancy lifts her head off Robin’s shoulder and gives her a confused look. “What?”
“I’m just saying, it might help. Plus, he kind of already knows…”
“You told my brother!?”
“I didn’t tell him! He figured it out himself after realizing I was the one who’s been sneaking in!”
Nancy sighs again. “Of course he did.”
“Hey, on the bright side, he said you being with me is better than you being with Steve.”
Nancy cracks a smile and shakes her head. “Of course he did. I still don’t know what his issue with Steve is.”
“Steve also has an issue with him, so whatever their issue is, it’s mutual. Speaking of Steve, he’s allegedly getting laid tonight. He might actually be getting laid as we speak.”
“I do not want to think about Steve’s sex life right now,” Nancy huffs, flopping back onto her bed. “I’m just happy he’s finally moved on.”
Robin collapses next to Nancy. She turns her head towards Nancy and smiles. “Yeah. Me too.”
“So, Mike and Will?”
“Yeah, I think so. I mean, maybe not, but it definitely seems like it.”
“It makes sense,” Nancy hums. “They’ve always had a different friendship than Mike and the rest of them.”
“Yeah. I picked up on that too.”
Then Nancy leans in and kisses Robin. Robin reciprocates, but stares back at her girlfriend surprised once they pull apart. “What was that for?”
Nancy shrugs, smiling at her. “No reason. Just felt like it.”
Robin smiles back at Nancy stupidly. God, she really loves this girl.